Dutch men’s basketball team knocks off Simpson
Central College
INDIANOLA — This time they held on.
After dropping four straight matchups against Simpson College while holding a lead in the second half, the Central College men’s basketball team closed out the Storm in a 76-66 win in the opening round of the Iowa Conference tournament Tuesday evening.
Central (15-11 overall) led 32-31 at halftime and came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. Senior forward Colby Taylor (Creston) and senior guard Pete Walker (Red Oak) scored a combined 24 points including 9-of-9 from the free throw line after the break.
“I thought it was a great second half performance by our guys,” said coach Craig Douma. “It was a great team win. Our defense was great tonight. Colby and Pete both had great second halves.”
Taylor and Walker had 14 points apiece to lead the Dutch, senior forward Austin Glawe (Aurelia, Sioux Central HS) had 13 points and six rebounds, junior guard Nick Drucker (Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) had 11 points and junior forward Kyle Smith (Ionia, New Hampton HS) added nine points off the bench.
“Drucker pulled a Drucker tonight, he made hustle play after hustle play,” said Douma. “Multiple guys stepped up and played well for us tonight.”
The Dutch controlled the glass 41-31 and outshot Simpson 43.1 percent from the field to 42.4.
“Coach Joe Steinkamp came up with a great defensive gameplan for tonight,” said Douma. “We were able to do a couple different things defensively that made the difference.”
Central heads to Nebraska Wesleyan Thursday for the second round of the conference tourney. The Prairie Wolves won both matchups against Central earlier this year, 93-86 January 23 and 101-80 February 1. Nebraska Wesleyan earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament after being co-champions with Loras College.
“Our guys are confident right now,” said Douma. “They believe. They believe in each other and the team isn’t going to lay down. We’re the healthiest we’ve been since early in the season. We’re going to have to rebound and defend in order to come out on top Thursday. We’ve had second half leads against them before so we know we can do it.”
